Do you remember the last time you’ve been to a blog and been super frustrated because you couldn’t find the information you were looking for? Or you couldn’t do what you were supposed to do because of how it was designed? Not very pleasant, right? How about the last time you checked the health of your blog design?

Keep in mind, no matter how awesome your content is, it’s useless if the design drives people nuts.

Your visitors will simply give up and look for another website. You’ll want to maximize the time visitors spend on your site and minimize the percentage of people who leave instead of continuing to view other pages within your blog.

This is the first of which will be a two-part series of tips. The following list are 12 in that series.

Confusing Home Page

Eliminate the jargon. Use terms that people can understand.
Keep the design clean and the content clear. You don’t have to fill every blank space on your site.
Keep your navigation uniform throughout the site.
Don’t put too many calls to action (or too many options).
Put a link to your “about” page somewhere visible in the header area or a little “about” section on the sidebar..
Or perhaps, create a “Start Here” page or section.

Overcrowded Nav. Bar

Widget Overload

Your Theme Says NOTHING

Color Scheme Hurts Your Eyes

Content is not scannable

Avoid the use of fancy unreadable text. Use web safe fonts instead.
Use lists.
Use bold or italic font faces to highlight important points.
Don’t use small fonts. I would recommend using at least 14px.
Be consistent with your font sizing, spacing and styling.

You use 15 different fonts (all at once)

The use of CAPTCHA (I leave any site that has that-it’s so annoying)

Plenty to think about but you’d be surprised just how many websites make these mistakes regardless of their size.

It’s okay to be creative, but don’t overdo it. Keep the structure and the design of your layout straightforward, relevant and organized.

Remember, your main goal is to be useful, so avoid anything that wastes your readers’ precious time.

Forget about fancy technologies because they do more harm than good. Always consider what’s best for your readers – it’s the best way to make them stay longer on your blog and much more likely to engage with you.

More to come on this topic next week. Happy Blogging!

Charma Hagans is a Freelance Writer and Virtual Assistant that is open to work with Web Start-ups, Private Industry Companies, e-Commerce Companies and any other fellow Bloggers.